Aid for composing words of song

ABSTRACT

A piano roll score, a word input/edit area and a word continuous display area are displayed. Note bars corresponding to notes of a melody are displayed on the piano roll score. The word input/edit area is divided into input cells having a length corresponding to a tempo number of each note. A pointer is moved to the input cell and a mouse is left-clicked to display an editor area. A letter(s) or character(s) is input by using a word processor function. The pointer is moved to the input cell and the mouse is right-clicked to display a command select box. A display command is selected from the command select box and input, the display command controlling a display style of a song-word character train in the word continuous display area. A dictionary database is used to search a song word by using the number of syllables and a part of speech as search keys. A sentence syntax is selected by using a sentence syntax template.

[0001] This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No.2000-123965, filed on Apr. 25, 2000, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] a) Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to techniques of aiding a work ofcomposing words of a song.

[0004] b) Description of the Related Art

[0005] As a conventional word composing apparatus, a word compositionaiding apparatus is known which is disclosed in JP-A-10-97529. Thisapparatus divides music into a plurality of paragraphs, sets a wordcomposing condition to each paragraph, derives words matching the wordcomposing condition from a “poem piece data bank” to present them to auser, and stores the word selected by the user to compose words. Theapparatus also detects the number of syllables of a given melody so thatwords matching the number of syllables are derived from the “poem piecedata bank”.

[0006] With this conventional apparatus, a correspondence between eachnote of a given melody and a character of song words is not so easy tobe understood. In deriving words matching the number of syllables of amelody, it is desired to consider a “phonetic sound” of each characterto derive more general song words. For example, a word “

” is pronounced either as two notes of “

” and “

” or as a single note of “

” if words having the number of characters equal to the number ofsyllables are derived, only the words corresponding to the two tones inthis example are derived and words corresponding to one tone cannot bederived.

[0007] It is very difficult for a songwriter novice to understand whatpart of speech is placed at which position to compose good song words.It is effective for aiding a songwriter in such a point.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to provide techniques ofproviding an effective aid in composing song words matching a melody.

[0009] According to one aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a word composing apparatus comprising: a melody displaycontroller for visually displaying a given melody on a display connectedto the word composing apparatus; an input cell display controller fordisplaying an input cell corresponding to each note of the melody on thedisplay; and an input processor for executing a process of inputtingletters or characters of a song word corresponding to a note to theinput cell.

[0010] A continuous character display controller may be provided whichdisplays a continuous character train in a continuous display area ofthe display, wherein characters input to the input cells are displayedin the continuous display area as a continuous song word charactertrain.

[0011] A continuous character train includes a train of long song wordsdisplayed in rows and a train containing spaces intentionally inserted.The continuous character train has continuous characters in at least twoadjacent input cells.

[0012] According to another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a word composing apparatus comprising: a dictionary storing atleast words and parts of speech corresponding to the words; a searchcondition designator for designating at least a part of speech as asearch condition; a word search unit for searching a word matching thesearch condition designated by the search condition designator from thedictionary; a search result display unit for displaying a searched word;and an input processor unit for executing a process of inputting a worddisplayed on the search result display unit as letters or characters ofa song word.

[0013] According to various features of the invention, the followingadvantages can be obtained:

[0014] a relation between each note of a melody, a character of songwords, and a syllable can be easily understood;

[0015] continuous words separated in respective input cells can bedisplayed as a continuous character train or syllable train;

[0016] words of a continuous character train or syllable train can bemade easy to look;

[0017] input cells still not input with song word characters orsyllables can be found easily;

[0018] a word can be selected by designating a part of speech;

[0019] a word can be selected by designating the number of syllables anda part of speech;

[0020] a plurality of characters or syllables can be made to have acorrespondence to one note;

[0021] an order of parts of speech can be determined simply by selectinga sentence syntax template;

[0022] each section of melody can be made easy to have a correspondenceto a part of speech; and

[0023] an effective aid in composing words matching a melody can beprovided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024]FIGS. 1A and 1B are plan views showing examples of a wordcomposing screen according to a first embodiment of the invention.

[0025]FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main part of the wordcomposing apparatus of the first embodiment.

[0026]FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an input operation of inputting acharacter or the like in an input cell according to the firstembodiment.

[0027]FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an input operation of inputting adisplay control command according to the first embodiment.

[0028]FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the word composing apparatusutilizing a personal computer and software according to an embodiment ofthe invention.

[0029]FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a main routine of a wordcomposing program according to the first embodiment.

[0030]FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a word input/edit processaccording the first embodiment.

[0031]FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a main part of a secondembodiment.

[0032]FIG. 9 is a table showing an example of the contents of adictionary according to the second embodiment.

[0033]FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams showing input display screenscorresponding to a search condition designating unit according to thesecond embodiment.

[0034]FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of search results in asearch result list box according to the second embodiment.

[0035]FIG. 12 is a table showing another example of a dictionaryaccording to the second embodiment.

[0036]FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a main part of a thirdembodiment.

[0037]FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a sentence syntaxtemplate database according to the third embodiment.

[0038]FIG. 15 is a table showing an example of a vocabulary databaseaccording to the third embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0039] Embodiments of the invention will be described with reference tothe accompanying drawings.

[0040]FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the structure of a wordcomposing apparatus constituted of a personal computer and softwareaccording to an embodiment of the invention. The personal computer has aCPU 1, a ROM 2, a RAM 3, a timer 4, a display 5, a mouse 6, a keyboard7, a digital signal processor (DSP) 8, a D/A converter (DAC) 9, a soundsystem 10, an external storage device 11, a MIDI interface 12, acommunication interface 13 and a bus 14. DSP 8, DAC 9 and MIDI interface12 are mounted on a sound card or the like. The display 5, mouse 6,keyboard 7 and external storage device 11 have interfaces.

[0041] CPU 1 runs on an operating system (OS) installed, for example, ina hard disk drive (HDD) of the external storage device 11 by using aworking area of RAM 3 to execute a normal control operation.Specifically, CPU 1 executes a display control of the display 5, inputsdata in response to an operation of the mouse 6 and keyboard 7, controlsthe display position of the mouse pointer on the display 5, and detectsa click operation of the mouse 6. In this manner, an input settingoperation by a user can be performed by a so-called graphical userinterface (GUI) process with the display screen of the display 5 and theoperation of the mouse 6.

[0042] When melody data is reproduced, CPU 1 executes an interruptprocess in response to an interrupt signal from the timer 4 to reproducetone data in the melody data or supply data of each performance to atone generator in DSP 8. DSP 8 generates digital musical tone signalscorresponding to the data supplied from CPU 1 and supplies them to DAC9. DAC 9 converts the digital musical tone signal into an analog audiosignal which is supplied to the sound system 10 including an amplifier,a speaker and the like to generate musical sounds.

[0043] The external storage device 11 may be one or a plurality ofdevices including a hard disk drive (HDD), a floppy disk drive (FDD), aCD-ROM drive, a magneto optical (MO) disc drive, a digital versatiledisk (DVD) drive. For example, the external storage device 11 suppliesCPU 1 with melody data and a word composing program. The externalstorage device 11 is also used for storing composed word data anddatabases for dictionaries and sentence syntax templates. The MIDIinterface 12 transfers various data to and from another MIDI instrument15. For example, the MIDI interface 12 receives melody data suppliedfrom the MIDI instrument 15 and outputs composed word data to the MIDIinstrument 15.

[0044] The word composing apparatus can be connected via thecommunication interface 13 to a communication network 16 such as a localarea network (LAN), the Internet and a telephone line so that it canreceive from a server computer 17 various data such as a word composingprogram, melody data, dictionary data, and sentence syntax templatedata. For example, the data including the word composing program, melodydata, dictionary data, and sentence syntax template data is stored inthe hard disk drive (HDD) of the external storage device 11. CPU 1develops the word composing program stored in the hard disk drive (HDD)upon RAM 3 and executes the program in RAM 3 to control a word composingprocess.

[0045] (1st Embodiment)

[0046]FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main part of the wordcomposing apparatus according to the first embodiment. An inputdesignating unit A includes the mouse 6 and keyboard 7. A wordinput/edit unit B includes an input area set on the display 5, a graphicRAM and the like. A word continuous display unit C includes a displayarea set on the display 5, a graphic RAM and the like. A melody datastorage unit D includes RAM 3 or the external storage device 11 forstoring melody data for which words are composed. A melody display unitE includes a display area set on the display 5, a graphic RAM and thelike. The display 5 may be an external display.

[0047] A process at each unit is executed by running CPU 1 on the wordcomposing program. In accordance with the melody data stored in themelody data storage unit D, a melody is visually displayed on the melodydisplay unit E. Specifically, note bars are displayed on a piano rollscore as note display elements. In accordance with the melody datastored in the melody data storage unit D, the word input/edit unit B isdisplayed by separating it into input cells corresponding to respectivenotes. When the input designating unit A inputs each character to theword input/edit unit B, characters input from the word input/edit unit Bare displayed as a continuous character train on the word continuousdisplay unit C.

[0048]FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing examples of a word composingdisplay screen of the display 5. FIG. 1A shows English song words, andFIG. 1B shows Japanese song words. On this word composing displayscreen, a piano roll score 20 corresponding to the melody display unitE, a word input/edit area 30 corresponding to the word input/edit unitB, and a word continuous display area 40 corresponding to the wordcontinuous display unit C are displayed. The piano roll score 20 has alaterally elongated area divided in an up/down direction to simulate apiano keyboard. Each area divided in the up/down direction correspondsto the pitch of each key of the piano, the lower area being a lowerpitch key and the higher area being a higher pitch key. The horizontaldirection from the left to right corresponds to a time lapse direction.A measure line L1 is displayed to partition each measure in the timelapse direction. A tempo line L2 is displayed corresponding to a tempoposition. Note bars 21 ₁, 21 ₂, . . . , 21 ₈ corresponding to notes aredisplayed as note display elements of the melody. The suffix of thereference numeral is used for distinguishing between a plurality of sameelements. In the following description, if the elements are notnecessary to be distinguished, the suffix is omitted. The note bar 21indicates a location (time position) along the right/left direction onthe screen, and the length of the note bar 21 indicates a gate time(reproduction continuation time) of the note. In this example, afour-four time is used, other times may also be used.

[0049] The word input/edit area 30 is displayed just under the pianoroll score 20 and is divided into input cells 31 ₁, 31 ₂, . . . , 31 ₈each having the length corresponding to a tempo number of each note bar21. The length of the note bar 21 corresponds to the gate time.Therefore, for example, a quarter note does not have one tempo length (adistance between tempo lines L2). Each input cell 31 has a lengthcorresponding to the length of a corresponding note in accordance withthe location of each note bar 21. For example, in FIGS. 1A and 1B, thenote bars 21 ₁, 21 ₂, 21 ₃, 21 ₆, 21 ₇ and 21 ₈ are quarter notes andthe corresponding input cells 31 ₁, 31 ₂, 31 ₃, 31 ₆, 31 ₇ and 31 ₈ havea one-tempo length, whereas the note bars 21 ₄ and 21 ₅ are half notesand the corresponding input cells 31 ₄ and 31 ₅ have a two-tempo length.The length of each input cell may be set to the gate time (length of thenote bar).

[0050] Each input cell 31 is input with a syllable(s) or character(s),or a command (hereinafter called a “display control command”) forcontrolling a display style of words or a song word character train.

[0051] In the example shown in FIG. 1A, “There” is input to the inputcell 31 ₁, “are” is input to the input cell 31 ₂, “beau” is input to theinput cell 31 ₃, “tiful” is input to the input cell 31 ₄, “skies and anenter (return) code” are input to the input cell 31 ₅, “To” is input tothe input cell 31 ₇, and “kyo” is input to the input cell 31 ₈. Theinput cell 31 ₆ is still not input.

[0052] The word continuous display area 40 is displayed under the wordinput/edit area 30 and displays a continuous syllable train in aplurality of rows and columns. In the example shown in FIG. 1A, acharacter or letter train “There are beautiful skies” is displayed inthe first row, the train having continuous syllables in the input cells31 ₁ to 31 ₅, and the enter command input to the input cell 31 ₅ returnsthe first row. In the second row, no syllable is input to the input cell31 ₆ so that this input cell is empty, and the syllables “To•kyo” in theinput cells 31 ₇ and 31 ₈ are displayed.

[0053] For example, since no syllable is input to the input cell 31 ₆, anon-input symbol 41 (in the example shown in FIG. 1A, □) is displayed toindicate that no syllable is input. By looking at the word continuousdisplay area 40, it is easy to confirm a presence of an input cell 31without no input syllable and a corresponding note bar 21. The non-inputsymbol is not displayed after the position of the enter command as inthe first row.

[0054] In the example shown in FIG. 1B, “

” is input to the input cell 31 ₁, “

” is input to the input cell 31 ₂, “

and an enter (return) command” are input to the input cell 31 ₃, “

” is input to the input cell 31 ₄, “

” is input to the input cell 31 ₅, “

” is input to the input cell 31 ₇. The input cells 31 ₆ and 31 ₈ arestill not input.

[0055] The word continuous display area 40 is displayed under the wordinput/edit area 30 and displays a continuous syllable train in aplurality of rows and columns. In the example shown in FIG. 1B, acharacter or letter train “

” is displayed in the first row, the train having continuous syllables “

”, “

” and “

” in the input cells 31 ₁ to 31 ₃, and the enter command input to theinput cell 31 ₃ returns the first row. In the second row, a character orletter train “

” is displayed, the train having continuous syllables “

” and “

” in the input cells 31 ₄ and 31 ₅, and no syllable is input to theinput cell 31 ₆ so that this input cell is empty, and the syllable “

” in the input cell 31 ₇ is displayed.

[0056] For example, since no syllable is input to the input cells 31 ₆and 31 ₈, a non-input symbol 41 (in the example shown in FIG. 1B, □) isdisplayed to indicate that no syllable is input. By looking at the wordcontinuous display area 40, it is easy to confirm a presence of an inputcell 31 without no input syllable and a corresponding note bar 21. Thenon-input symbol is not displayed after the position of the entercommand as in the first row.

[0057]FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an input operation of inputting acharacter or the like to the input cell 31. As the pointer P of themouse is moved to the input cell 31 and the mouse is left-clicked, aneditor area 31A for input only is displayed. In this state, a characteris input, for example, by using the keyboard 7. This character inputprocess can be realized by well known techniques such as a wordprocessor function (e.g., Japanese language input function) of apersonal computer. By opening the editor area 31A and selecting acharacter or word displayed in a search result list box as in second andthird embodiments to be described later, a character or word can beinput. By operating an enter (return) key, the editor area 31Adisappears and letters or characters (or words) input to the editor area31A are input to the input cell 31.

[0058]FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an input operation of inputting adisplay control command. As the pointer P of the mouse is moved to theinput cell 31 and the mouse is right-clicked, a command select box 31Bis displayed. In this command select box 31B, the names (space, a centerdot delimiting syllables, hyphen, enter and the like) of a displaycontrol command are displayed. The display control command is used forcontrolling the display style, not relevant to sound reproduction, of asong word character train in the word continuous display area(continuous display unit) 40. By using the pointer P of the mouse 6 orthe cursor keys of the keyboard 7, a command in the command select box31B is selected so that the selected command is input to the input cell31. The letter(s) or character(s) or command data input (established) tothe input cell 31 is written in the storage area of RAM 3. In accordancewith the stored data, a letter(s) or character(s) is displayed in theword continuous display area 40. Specifically, when the “space” isselected, a space (underline or an empty area without the non-inputsymbol 41) is inserted in the word continuous display area 40, when the“hyphen” is selected, a hyphen is inserted, and when the “enter” isselected, an enter is inserted.

[0059] As the display control command is input, the display style of theword continuous display area 40 is changed. In this case, “_” for thespace, “-” for the hyphen and “

” for the enter may be displayed in the input space as the displaycontrol command. The user can confirm such display easily.

[0060]FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a main routine of the wordcomposing program according to the embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a sub-routine of the word input/edit process. Thecontrol operation of CPU 1 will be described with reference to each flowchart. As the main routine shown in FIG. 6 starts, at Step S1 an overalldisplay screen of the piano roll score 20, word continuous display area40 and the like are displayed (the word input/edit area 30 is displayedlater). At Step S2 a user designates a melody select process including astep of reading melody data from the hard disk drive or the like of theexternal storage device 11. Next, at Step S3, note bars 21 correspondingto the notes of the selected melody are displayed on the piano rollscore 20. At Step S4, the word input/edit process shown in FIG. 7 isexecuted. At Step S5 other processes are executed to thereafter returnto Step S1. The other processes include a process of saving the composedwords.

[0061] In the word input/edit process shown in FIG. 7, at Step S11 inaccordance with the selected melody data, the word input/edit area 30 isdisplayed by dividing it into input cells 31 corresponding to the notesof the melody, and the non-input symbol (“□”) 41 is displayed in eachrow and column of the word input/edit display area 40. Next, at Step S12it is checked whether there is a left click operation of the mouse onany input cell 31. If there is no left click operation, the flowbranches to Step S16, whereas if there is a left click operation, theflow advances to Step S13. At Step S13 the editor area 31A is displayed.Next, at Step S14 an input operation of inputting a letter(s) orcharacter(s) is performed in the editor area 31A, and data of the inputletter(s) or character(s) is stored in the memory (e.g., RAM 3) and theinput letter(s) or character(s) is displayed in the word continuousdisplay area 40. Namely, the input letter(s) or character(s) isdisplayed by replacing it by the non-input symbol (“□”)41. At Step S15the editor area 31A is closed to follow Step S16. With the aboveprocesses, an input process of inputting a letter(s) or character(s) canbe performed as described with reference to FIG. 3.

[0062] At Step S16 it is checked whether there is a right clickoperation of the mouse on any input cell 31. If there is no right clickoperation, the flow skips to Step S19, whereas if there is a right clickoperation, the flow advances to Step S17. At Step S17 the command selectbox 31B is opened and displayed. Next, at Step S18 a process ofselecting the display control command by the user is executed, theselected display command is stored in the memory (e.g., RAM 3), and inaccordance with the selected display control command, the display styleof the word continuous display area 40 is controlled to thereafter closethe command select box 31B and advance to Step S19. At Step S19 it ischecked whether there is a termination instruction of the wordinput/edit work. If there is a termination instruction, the flow returnsto the main routine, whereas if there is no termination instruction, theflow returns to Step S12. With the above processes, an operation ofinputting the display control command described with reference to FIG. 4can be performed.

[0063] In the above-described embodiment, when the input cell is to beselected, the pointer P is moved to the input cell and the left click ofthe mouse is performed. When the succeeding input cell is to beselected, the arrow key (→ or ←) or a TAB key of the keyboard may beused. By operating the enter key or the like in the state that the inputcell is selected, the editor area 31A may be opened. Further, althoughafter the input cell is selected and the editor area 31A is opened, acharacter(s) or display control command is input, the character(s) ordisplay control command may be written directly in the input cell. Ifthe character train becomes long, the input cell may be expanded to tworows.

[0064] Also in the above embodiment, although note bars 21 are displayedon the piano roll score 20 to visually display the melody, the melodymay be displayed on a staff notation or a TAB score.

[0065] (2nd Embodiment)

[0066] Next, the second embodiment will be described. The secondembodiment pertains to a function of aiding a user in determining acharacter(s) or word(s) of song words. A process of inputting acharacter(s) or word(s) determined by the second embodiment and aprocess of displaying an input display screen can use the processes ofthe first embodiment including the process of inputting a character(s)to the input cell and the process of displaying the piano roll score 20,word input/edit area 30 and word continuous display area 40.

[0067]FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the main part of the secondembodiment. A search condition designation unit F and a search startinstruction unit G are made of GUI utilizing the mouse 6 or keyboard 7and a screen of the display 5. A search result list display unit H is alist box or the like displayed on the display 5. A word search unit I isa function obtained while CPU 1 executes the word composing program ofthe second embodiment of the invention. A dictionary J is a databasestored in a hard disk or the like of the external storage device 11. Aselect/input unit K is, for example, the input cell 31, editor area 31Aor the like of the first embodiment.

[0068] As shown in FIG. 9, the dictionary J to be searched has a numberof sets of a word and a part of speech registered. The part of speechincludes a noun, a pronoun, a verb, an auxiliary verb, an adjective, anadverb, a preposition, a conjunction, an interjection, an adjectiveverb, a participal adjective, a postpositional auxiliary word, and thelike.

[0069]FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams showing input display screenscorresponding to the search condition designation unit F. The inputdisplay screens display an input menu 51 for inputting the number ofsyllables or sounds and an input menu 52 for inputting a part of speech.The input menus 51 and 52 display the number of syllables and the partof speech presently selected. In the usual case, only the input menus 51and 52 are displayed. When the pointer P of the mouse 6 is moved toeither a pull-down switch 51 a or 52 a and the mouse is clicked, aselect box 52A such as shown in FIG. 10B is displayed. When the pointerP of the mouse 6 is moved to any one of the parts of speech displayed inthe select box 52A and the mouse is clicked, or any one of the parts ofspeech is selected by using an arrow key (↑ or ↓) and the enter key, theselected part of speech is displayed in the input menu 52. Similarly,the pull-down menu for the input menu 51 for inputting the number ofsyllables displays “one-syllable word, two-syllable word, three-syllableword, . . . ”.

[0070] As the search condition including the number of syllables and thepart of speech is entered by using the search condition designation unitF in the manner described above, the entered search condition is sent tothe word search unit I. The search condition may be selected from anyone of candidates prepared beforehand or a user may designate and inputany word.

[0071] Next, when the search start instruction unit G instructs the wordsearch unit I to start a search, the word search unit I sequentiallyread words registered in the dictionary J, judges whether the read wordmatches the search condition, and picks up the word matching the searchcondition. In this pickup process, the number of syllables or sounds ofa read word is calculated based upon syllable number count rules to bedescribed later, and it is judged whether the counted number ofsyllables satisfies the search condition and whether the part of speechof the read word satisfies the search condition. For example, if thesearch condition is “two-syllable word and noun” as shown in FIGS. 10Aand 10B, it is judged whether the read word is a two-syllable word andwhether the part of speech field of the read word indicates a noun. Inthis manner, words of a two-syllable word and a noun are picked up.Other search conditions may also be applied. For example, thecharacteristics of a word may be used as the search condition, such as“human related words”, “animal related words”, “nature related words”,and “place name related words” for the noun words. If one word can bepronounced in many ways, words capable of being pronounced in many waysare also checked. For words capable of liaison, words with liaison andwords without liaison are also checked.

[0072] The following five syllable number count rules are know forJapanese words.

[0073] 1) For a word having a small letter such as “

” and “

”, the small letter is not counted.

[0074] 2) For a word having “

” at a position except the start position such as “

” and “

”, the “

” is counted in some case and not counted in other cases.

[0075] 3) For a word having “

” at a position except the start position such as “

” and “

”, the “

” is counted in some case and not counted in other cases.

[0076] 4) For a word having “

” at a position except the start position such as “

” and “

”, the “

” is counted in some case and not counted in other cases.

[0077] 5) A prolonged sound “-” in a katakana word is counted in somecase and not counted in other cases.

[0078] These syllable number count rules are applied in the manner as inthe following specific examples.

[0079] When a word “

” is read, the rule 1) is applied. Since “

” and “

” are both one syllable, it is judged that the word is a two-syllableword.

[0080] When a word “

” is read, the rule 2) is applied. Since “

” and “

” are both one syllable or two syllables, it is judged that the word “

” corresponds to each of a two-syllable word, a three-syllable word anda four-syllable word.

[0081] When a word “

” is read, the rule 3) is applied. A word “

” has each one syllable and four syllables in total. Since “

” is counted in some case and not counted in other cases, it is azero-syllable word or a one-syllable word. Therefore, it is judged thatthe word “

” corresponds to each of a four-syllable word and a five-syllable word.

[0082] When a word “

” is read, the rules 2) and 4) are applied. A syllable “

” of “

” is one syllable and a syllable “

” is either zero syllable or one syllable according to the rule 4) sothat the whole of “

” is one syllable or two syllables. Similar to the explanation of “

”, a syllable “

” is either one syllable or two syllables. Therefore, it is judged thatthe word “

” corresponds to each of a two-syllable word, a three-syllable word anda four-syllable word.

[0083] When a word “

-

” is read, the rule 5) is applied. Since “-” is counted in some case andnot counted in other cases, it is a zero-syllable word or a one-syllableword. Both “

” and “

” are one syllable. Therefore, it is judged that the word “

-

” corresponds to each of a two-syllable word and a three-syllable word.

[0084] The search result is sent to the search result list display unitH. The search result list display unit H displays a search result listbox such as shown in FIG. 11 and displays searched words in this searchresult list box. An example shown in FIG. 11 corresponds to the examplesdescribed above. The words as the search result candidates for thetwo-syllable word are “

-

”, “

”, “

”, “

”, “

” and “

” is an adjective verb, the words matching the search condition of“two-syllable word” and “noun” are “

-

”, “

”, “

”, “

'example shown in FIG. 11, although the meaning of each word isdisplayed, other terms such as synonyms, metonyms, and antonyms may bedisplayed. The dictionary J stores these meanings, synonyms, metonyms,antonyms and the like of each word to display them.

[0085] In order to select a word from the search result list box shownin FIG. 11, the pointer P is moved to the word and the mouse is clicked,or the word is selected by using the arrow key (↑ or ↓) of the keyboardand the enter key. In this manner, the selected word may be input to theinput cell 31 or editor area 31A of the first embodiment.

[0086] In this embodiment, the number of syllables of a read word iscounted based upon the syllable number count rules. Instead, as shown ina dictionary of FIG. 12, the number of syllables of each word may becalculated in advance based upon the syllable number count rules andstored in the dictionary.

[0087] (3rd Embodiment)

[0088] Next, the third embodiment will be described. In the thirdembodiment, melody is divided into small melody sections. By using asentence syntax template, each melody section is made to have acorrespondence with a segment, and a word to be assigned to each segmentis searched. As a process of inputting a selected word and a process ofdisplaying input display screens of the third embodiment, the process ofinputting a character to the input cell 31 and a process of displayingthe piano roll score 20, word input/edit area 30 and word continuousdisplay area 40 of the first embodiment can be applied.

[0089]FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the main part of the thirdembodiment. A database L for sentence syntax templates is stored in ahard disk drive or the like of the external storage device 11.

[0090]FIG. 14 shows an example of sentence syntax templates. For Englishsentence syntax templates, the templates are first classified intofundamental sentence syntaxes. Elements of each fundamental syntaxinclude a subject S, a verb V, a complement C, an object O and the like.An adverb, an interjection and the like are used for modifications. Forexample, the subject S and object O are further classified into apronoun, an article+a noun, an article+an adjective+a noun” and thelike. S, V, O, C and the like are herein called segments.

[0091] For example, the second template shown in FIG. 14 is S+V+C. Thistemplate is further classified into a plurality of lower level templatessuch as (pronoun)+(verb)+(noun), (pronoun)+(verb)+(adjective), and(article)+(noun)+(auxiliary verb)+(verb)+(adjective)+(noun).

[0092] For Japanese sentence syntax templates, for example as shown inFIG. 14, a plurality of sentence syntax templates are stored, eachtemplate being constituted of a combination of a plurality of segmentseach corresponding to one part of speech. For example, the firstsentence syntax template at the uppermost row in FIG. 14, is constitutedof three segments including “[noun]

”, “[noun]

”, and “[transitive verb]”.

[0093] Referring to FIG. 13, a melody division unit N, a segment numbercoincidence template search unit O, a syllable number count unit Q foran unsettled part of speech, a sentence syntax template decision unit R,an unsettled part of speech search unit S and an unsettled vocabularydecision unit U are functions obtained when CPU 1 executes the wordcomposing program. Each unit operates as in the following manner.

[0094] The melody division unit N divides a selected melody M, takes acorrespondence between each divided section and a segment to determinethe number of segments of the melody. The melody may be dividedautomatically in accordance with a predetermined algorithm, or manuallyby a user. For example, the melody may be divided by setting a notehaving a long note length to the last of a section, by setting a sectionpartition between notes having a large pitch difference, or by setting asection partition at a position where there is a change in detectedchord and tempo.

[0095] After the melody is divided, the segment number coincidencetemplate search unit O searches the database L to detect the sentencesyntax template whose segment number coincides with the melody.

[0096] It is assumed that a melody whose words are to be written has sixsyllables and that two templates are selected including:

S+V+C  (1)

S+V+O  (2)

[0097] A syllable is assigned to each of the segments S, V, O and C.Assuming that S and V are determined and S and V have four syllables intotal, then the remaining C or O is required to have two syllables. Inthis manner, the sentence segment is determined one after another, andthe remaining segment is selected so as to coincide with the remainingnumber of syllables, two syllables. For example, if a lower leveltemplate for C or O has (article)+(adjective)+(noun), C or O cannot berealized by two syllables so that this template is discarded fromtemplate candidates. Therefore, a template such as (noun), (adjective)and (adjective)+(noun) which can be made of two syllables is searchedfor C or O. For example, adjectives and nouns having two syllables aresearched from a vocabulary database shown in FIG. 15. In this manner, aportion of the sentence is determined and the remaining unsettledsentence is derived from the database to settle it.

[0098] A specific example of a Japanese language sentence will bedescribed. It is assumed that a melody whose words are to be written hastwenty six syllables and that this melody is divided into six sections,i.e., six segments as indicated by the following formula (1):

[5 syllables]/[3 syllables]/[4 syllables]/[5 syllables]/[4 syllables]/[5syllables]  (1)

[0099] It is then assumed that the following sentence syntax templates(a) to (c) having six segments are selected from the sentence syntaxtemplate database L:

[adjective]/[noun]

/[adjective]/[noun]

/[noun]

/[transitive verb]  (a)

[adjective]/[noun]

/[noun]

/[adjective]/[noun]

/[transitive verb]  (b)

[adjective]/[noun]

/[noun]

/[adjective]/[noun]

/[transitive verb]  (c)

[0100] In the templates (a) to (c), “/” indicates a delimiter for asegment, and “[ ]” indicates a part of speech having the arbitrarynumber of syllables. “

”, “

” and the like are a postpositional auxiliary word whose syllable numberis counted in.

[0101] The syllable number count unit Q for an unsettled part of speechcalculates the number of syllables of each part of speech in eachsegment of each sentence syntax template candidate (a) to (c) inaccordance with the melody segment condition of the formula (1), i.e.,the number of syllables of each part of speech. For example, in the caseof the template (a), the [adjective] of the first segment is fivesyllables and the [noun] in the second segment is two syllables (threesyllables−one syllable) because one syllable “

” is added to the second segment. The [noun] in the fourth segment isfour syllables (five syllables−one syllable) because one syllable “

” is added to the fourth segment. Similarly, the number of syllables ofeach part of speech is calculated for the other templates.

[0102] Next, the sentence syntax template decision unit R discards thetemplate not satisfying the syllable number condition from the templatecandidates. For example, the number of template candidates is reduced bycomparing the number of syllables of each part of speech calculated bythe syllable number count unit Q for an unsettled part of speech withthe number of syllables in each segment of the melody. Namely, the fifthsegment of the template (c) has already four syllables of thepostpositional auxiliary word of “

” which is equal to four syllables of the fifth segment of the melodyshown in the formula (1). Since the syllable number count unit Q for anunsettled part of speech counts as a zero syllable the number ofsyllables of the [noun] in the fifth segment of the template (c), thistemplate (c) is discarded. Therefore, the templates (a) and (b) areleft. One of the templates (a) and (b) are selected by a user or byusing a random number. It is herein assumed that the template (a) isselected.

[0103] The vocabulary database T is stored in a hard disk or the like ofthe external storage device 11 and stores a number of registered sets ofa word and a part of speech. The unsettled part of speech search unit Sselects from the vocabulary database T a part of speech designated bythe selected template and having the syllables equal in number to thecalculated number. For example, for the first segment, an adjectivehaving five syllables (refer to the formula (1)) is selected from thevocabulary database T shown in FIG. 15. For example, two words “

” and “

” are selected a candidate words. In counting the number of syllables ofeach word in the vocabulary database T, the syllable number count rulesof the second embodiment are applied.

[0104] The unsettled vocabulary decision unit U displays the candidatewords selected as described above on the display 5, for example, in asearch result list box. One word matching the melody is selected fromthe candidate words and decided as a melody word. Thisselection/decision is performed by a user or by using a random numbersimilar to the template selection. If there is a database for relevantwords, a target word can be selected based upon words before and afterthe target word.

[0105] A function of selecting again “modifier word”+“noun” or “modifierword”+“verb” as one word for an unsettled part of speech of a noun and averb in the template. For example, if a template is [noun]

[noun]

[transitive verb] and one modifier word is added to the noun and verb,the template is changed to [[adjective][noun]]

[ ]adjective][noun]]

[transitive verb].

[0106] For example, if some section (segment) is assigned a [noun], arelatively long noun coincident with the number of syllables may beselected or the [noun] is further divided into [adjective] and [noun] toselect the words having the same number of syllables.

[0107] The function of reducing the number of candidate parts of speechcan be improved further if accents of both English and Japanese wordsare registered in the vocabulary database, and when a part of speech issearched from the vocabulary database, the characteristics of a melodyare judged to select a word having an accent matching thecharacteristics from the vocabulary database.

[0108] If there is melody sections having the same melody role among aplurality of melody sections, the same template is used for such melodysections. In this case, if parts of speech in one melody section havealready been selected, the words of these parts of speech arepreferentially selected as the words in another melody section havingthe same role. For example, if a melody has a measure structure ofA1-B1-C1-A2-B2-C2, the same template is used for A1 and A2. If the firstsection (segment) of A1 is determined, candidate words for the firstsection of A2 are narrowed down to those words related to those selectedfor A1.

[0109] The above embodiments are constituted of a personal computer andsoftware. The above embodiments may be applied to electronic musicalinstruments. The word composing program may be stored in a ROM. A tonegenerator, a sequencer, an effector and the like may be discrete deviceswhich are interconnected by communication means such as MIDI and variousnetworks.

[0110] The format of melody data may be any format such as an“event+relative time” format which defines an occurrence time of aperformance event by a time from one previous event, an “event+absolutetime” format which defines an occurrence time of a performance event byan absolute time in music or in a measure, a “pitch (rest)+note length”format which defines performance data by a pitch and length of a note orby a rest and rest length, and a “direct storage” format which reservesa memory area corresponding to each minimum performance resolution andstores each performance event in the memory area corresponding to theoccurrence time of a performance event.

[0111] In the embodiments, the word composing program is storedbeforehand in the hard disk. The invention is not limited thereto, butthe word composing program may be recorded in a CD-ROM or CD-R andloaded in a hard disk. CPU 1 develops this word composing program uponRAM 3 and in accordance with the program read from RAM 3, performs theword composing process in a similar manner to the embodiments. In thismanner, CPU 1 can perform similar operations to those when the wordcomposing program is stored in ROM 2. With this arrangement, newinstallation, addition, version-up and the like of the word composingprogram can be made easily. The word composing program may be recordedin a floppy disk, a magneto optical (MO) or the like and supplied to RAM3 or a hard disk.

[0112] The word composing program may be downloaded by using thecommunication interface 13. In this case, for example, the communicationinterface 13 is used for the connection to the communication network 16such as a local area network (LAN), the Internet and a telephone line.The word composing program is distributed from the server computer 17via the communication network and recorded in a hard disk to completethe download.

[0113] A MIDI interface is not limited only to a dedicated MIDIinterface, but it may be configured by using a general interface such asRS-232C, a universal serial interface (SUB), IEEE1394. In this case,data different from MIDI messages may be transmitted and received at thesame time.

[0114] The present invention has been described in connection with thepreferred embodiments. The invention is not limited only to the aboveembodiments. It is apparent that various modifications, improvements,combinations, and the like can be made by those skilled in the art.

What we claim are:
 1. A word composing apparatus comprising: a melodydisplay controller for visually displaying a given melody on a displayconnected to the word composing apparatus; an input cell displaycontroller for displaying an input cell corresponding to each note ofthe melody on the display; and an input processor for executing aprocess of inputting a letter or letters or a character or characters ofa song word corresponding to a note or notes to the input cell.
 2. Aword composing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising acontinuous letter or character display controller for displaying acontinuous letter or character train in a continuous display area of thedisplay, wherein letters or characters input to the input cells aredisplayed in the continuous display area as a continuous song wordletter or character train.
 3. A word composing apparatus according toclaim 2, wherein said input processor allows a command to be input tothe input cell, the command controlling a display style of a song wordletter or character train in the continuous display area.
 4. A wordcomposing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said continuous letteror character display controller displays a symbol in the continuousdisplay area at a position corresponding to the input cell in which aletter or character for the song word is not input, the symbolindicating that a letter or character is not still input.
 5. A wordcomposing apparatus comprising: a dictionary storing at least words andparts of speech corresponding to the words; a search conditiondesignator for designating at least a part of speech as a searchcondition; a word search unit for searching a word matching the searchcondition designated by said search condition designator from saiddictionary; a search result display unit for displaying a searched word;and an input processor unit for executing a process of inputting a worddisplayed on said search result display unit as letters or characters ofa song word.
 6. A word composing apparatus according to claim 5, whereinsaid search condition designator designates at least the number ofsyllables and a part of speech as the search condition.
 7. A wordcomposing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said search conditiondesignator counts a letter or character train containing predeterminedletters or characters as both one syllable and two syllables, as amethod of counting the number of syllables of a word in said dictionary.8. A word composing apparatus comprising sentence syntax storing meansfor storing a plurality of sentence syntax templates each defining atypical order of a plurality of parts of speech, wherein a sentencesyntax template is selected from said sentence syntax storing means todetermine an order of parts of speech.
 9. A word composing apparatuscomprising: sentence syntax storing means for storing a plurality ofsentence syntax templates each defining a typical order of a pluralityof parts of speech; and melody dividing means for dividing a givenmelody into a plurality of melody sections, wherein each section dividedby said melody dividing means is made to have a correspondence with asentence syntax template selected from said sentence syntax storingmeans to determine a part of speech of each melody section.
 10. A wordcomposing method wherein a given melody is visually displayed, an inputcell is provided in correspondence with each note of the melody, and aletter or letters or a character or characters of a song wordcorresponding to each note are input to a corresponding input cell. 11.A word composing method wherein a given melody is visually displayed, aninput cell is provided in correspondence with each note of the melody, acontinuous display area for displaying a continuous letter or charactertrain is provided, and a letter or letters or a character or charactersinput to each input cell are displayed in the continuous display area asa continuous letter or character train.
 12. A word composing methodwherein at least a part of speech is designated as a search condition,and a word matching the search condition is searched from a dictionarystoring at least words and parts of speech corresponding to the words,and adopted as part of a song word to be input.
 13. A word composingmethod wherein a sentence syntax template is selected from a pluralityof sentence syntax templates each defining a typical order of aplurality of parts of speech to determine an order of parts of speech.14. A word composing method wherein a given melody is divided into aplurality of melody sections, and each melody section is made to have acorrespondence with a sentence syntax template selected from a pluralityof sentence syntax templates each defining a typical order of aplurality of parts of speech, to determine a part of speech of eachmelody section.
 15. A word composing program for making a computerexecute: a process of visually displaying a given melody; a process ofproviding an input cell corresponding to each note of the melody; and aprocess of inputting a letter or letters or a character or characters ofa song word corresponding to each note to the input cell.
 16. A wordcomposing program for making a computer execute: a process of visuallydisplaying a given melody; a process of providing an input cell incorrespondence with each note of the melody; and a process of inputtinga letter or letters or a character or characters of a song wordcorresponding to each note to a corresponding input cell.
 17. A wordcomposing program for making a computer execute: a process of visuallydisplaying a given melody; a process of providing an input cell incorrespondence with each note of the melody; a process of providing acontinuous display area for displaying a continuous letter or charactertrain; and a process of displaying a letter or letters or a character orcharacters input to each input cell in the continuous display area as acontinuous letter or character train.
 18. A word composing program formaking a computer execute: a process of designating at least a part ofspeech as a search condition; and a process of searching a word matchingthe search condition from a dictionary storing at least words and partsof speech corresponding to the words, and adopting the searched word aspart of a song word to be input.
 19. A word composing program for makinga computer execute: a process of dividing a given melody into aplurality of melody sections; and a process of making each melodysection have a correspondence with a sentence syntax template selectedfrom a plurality of sentence syntax templates each defining a typicalorder of a plurality of parts of speech, to determine a part of speechof each melody section.